Australia: Nudie In Court

The Federal Court has granted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) an injunction and made orders that Nudie Foods Australia Pty Ltd (Nudie) publish corrective notices on its websites and institute a training and trade practices compliance program for misleading labelling on its packaging for Nudie fruit juices.

The misleading conduct related, amongst other things, to the prominent pictorial representation of cranberries (and no other fruit) on its packaging for its Rosie Ruby juice and cranberries and blueberries (and no other fruit) on its packaging for its Rose Blue juice. It was found that both juices were comprised of approximately 80% reconstituted apple juice.

The ACCC brought proceedings on the grounds that Nudie's representations amounted to breaches of:

• s52(1) of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) because the representations relating to the content of the juices were misleading and deceptive or likely to mislead and deceive

• s53(a) of the TPA because the false representations on the labelling related to the composition of the fruit juice products

• s55 of the TPA because Nudie's conduct was liable to mislead consumers as to the nature or characteristics of the products.

The Federal Court declared that Nudie had made misleading claims about its Rosie Ruby and Rosie Blue fruit juices, in breach of sections 52, 53(a) and 55 of the Trade Practices Act.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.